Ok, this is the year that I dedicate to the short game. I am breaking my practice down into segments, trying to focus on just 1 or 2 things per session. Today I was focused on my greenside bunker play. Not that I am trying to tell anyone how to practice, but I just wanted to share what I discovered today.
1. You need to work on the "line" drill Tim uses in the during the sand game portion of the DVD. I know, many of you are "good" iron players and feel you already know where the bottom of your swing arc is. The problem is that when you get into the sand things change. Especially when you open your stance 20 degrees as Tim teaches.
I started to do the line drill with a square stance. AS I thought, the bottom of my swing was a fraction ahead of the center of my stance. I did the drill unrushed. You don't want to just be slapping at the sand wildly. Focus as if you were hitting a shot on the course. What was interesting was when I took a 20 degree open stance and tried to repeat the drill SURPRISE - you think you know where the club will hit the sand but it is completely different.
Really, the position has not changed, but since you know have an open stance, your prospective has greatly changed. It seems like the low point of my swing shifted dramatically backwards. It took several minutes to adjust to this.
2. You need to draw lines in the bunker when you practice. By drawing a straight line towards the target and a 20 degree open line for my feet, I got a true perspective of where my feet and swing need to be in relation to the ball position. After working on my "long game" for the past few years and finally getting the "closed shoulder feeling" when I set up, this 20 degree open stance was WEIRD. It felt like I was almost 90 degress open for the first few minutes. Swinging down my feet line was really a dramatic "cut" across the ball. Without the lines, I never would have been able to correctly visualize and understand this move.
3. You need to stay in balance and control, but you need to swing much harder than you think to hit a good sand shot. Having said that, once you get the set up and swing down, you will find that you can swing "hard" and you have a great deal of margin for error. The fact is, when I was switching between my 56 degree sand wedge and my 60 degree lob wedge, I found I could hit both clubs the same hight and length depending on how hard I swing and where I put the ball in my stance.
4. You need to vary the clubs you use in the trap to produce the shot you are trying to hit. I found that a 50 degree gap wedge and a 46 degree pitching wedge can produce nice, high and long shots using your "regular" sand set up and swing.
5. Hitting sand shots from hard sand, or bunkers where there is no sand, use the same set up and club you would use to hit a pitch shot from that same distance. The only thing is you need to swing much harder to carry the ball the same distance.
I know that nothing I have said above is anything new. In fact, Tim has been trying to drill this into all of us for years. I just wanted you to hear it from an "average" guy on this forum.
Finally, I have decided that I am dedicating this season to my short game. I will only play golf 1 or 2 times per month (big cut back from normal). I will spend at least 3 practice sessions per week at the learning center working on my short game. The biggest breakthrough is that I have mapped out a practice strategy for each session. I will break the time I have for each session into 3 components. The first and longest portion will be what ever I have decided to focus on for that day. Today was set up and basic execution of sand shots. I spent 25 minutes of my session on this. I was focussed and fresh. When I hit the 25 minute mark I walked away and did something else.
I guess the point is that focused practice is where the improvement will occur.
Sorry for running on so long, but this was a great "aha" day for me - just wanted to share.
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Short game - sand practice
Posted - 04/09/2006 : 21:52:29
